Drunk-Driving Conviction No. 12 Gets Man 3 Years

For the 12th time, Roger W. Cram is guilty of driving drunk.

The 52-year-old Santa Ana man, described by police as “a fatal accident waiting to happen,” pleaded guilty Thursday to driving under the influence and with a revoked license.

Orange County Municipal Judge Edward Laird sentenced Cram to three years for the misdemeanor offense, records show.

Cram was arrested on April 9 in Santa Ana with a blood-alcohol level of .27, more than three times the legal limit, police said. It was Cram’s third 1997 arrest on traffic violations.

The construction worker has been injured in several accidents as a result of his driving drunk, but no other drivers have been injured, records show.

“One time, a gearshift got me in the ribs,” Cram said during a jailhouse interview this month. “But I’ve never been in anything with injuries to anybody else.”

Still, the news of his sentence Thursday was welcomed with a sigh of relief by Reidel Post, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“I’m thrilled that he’s going to be removed from the roads,” Post said. “He was given three years, so in our current system he’ll more than likely serve just 18 months. But we’re pleased. It sends a message.”

Cram was among the top targets of a Santa Ana police program aimed at “the worst of the worst,” the 300 repeat DUI offenders in the city with open arrest warrants, Police Lt. Felix Osuna said.

Cram was the first person arrested under the program, which is funded by a $374,000 state grant and may become a model for similar efforts nationwide.

Cram, who lost his license in 1984, contends he is unfairly harassed by police and denies he has a drinking problem.

“They keep coming after me because they know they got a bust,” Cram said this month.

In January, Cram led Fountain Valley police on a slow-speed pursuit before he was arrested on a drunk-driving offense that eventually landed him in jail for two weeks, police said.

Later that same month, an anonymous tip brought police to Cram’s home on Edinger Avenue where they arrested him for driving with a suspended license.

He was on probation during his most recent arrest. He has been through many counseling programs, served jail stints as long as 16 months and been repeatedly forbidden to drive, court records show.

Last week, he also dismissed the assertions of his son, who described a childhood of neglect and grief in an open letter to The Times regarding his father’s drinking.